With support from Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Washington DC (RMHC), two Arlington-based non-profits are joining forces to support young single mothers and their children.

Project Knitwell and Borromeo Housing Inc. (BHI) announced that beginning in March, Project Knitwell will provide knitting instruction and quality supplies to teen moms residing at BHI in an effort to promote wellness, comfort, and community.

We are excited to partner with the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts in Washington, DC to offer knitting this fall. The Smith Center is a nationally recognized leader in promoting the use of art and creativity as part of the process of healing and as a way to engender well-being, particularly for those affected by cancer. For more information or to register: http://www.smithcenter.org/programs-retreats/programs-by-…

Project Knitwell held knitting classes for parents and other family members at HSC (formerly the Hospital for Sick Children) in Northeast D.C. in August 2014. At the invitation of the Child Life Specialist and the Chaplain, Project Knitwell provided volunteers and supplies for family members of very long-term pediatric patients in an effort to offer them some community time and a respite from caring for and worrying about their children. Instruction in Spanish was offered for those who requested it.

In July 2014, Project Knitwell held a series of knitting classes for emotionally disturbed adolescents at the John. L. Gildner Institute for Children and Adolescents in Rockville, Maryland. Volunteers worked with 30 teen residents — mostly boys — and most of whom found their newly learned skill to be therapeutic and productive.

In May 2014, Ronald McDonald House Charitiesof Greater Washington, DC (RMHC), awarded Project Knitwell a one-year grant to better serve long-term pediatric patients, to expand its knitting program to two additional sites in the DC metro area, and to publish an intermediate-level knitting resource guide for young people. This grant is a follow-on to a June 2011 RMHC grant which enabled Project Knitwell to establish a pediatric knitting program, create a guide for starting such a program for starting such a program in a hospital setting, and to publish a beginning-level resource guide for young people. Project Knitwell is extremely grateful for this support.

In 2013, Project Knitwell began offering new programs at Virginia Hospital Center, including knitting classes and a monthly drop in knitting group at the Cancer Resource Center. Both are open to cancer patients, their care givers and/or family members, and oncology staff. Project Knitwell has also begun work with women on bedrest awaiting the birth of their children at the hospital.